The New Year has started out amazing, and I have high
hopes for the year to come. I kicked 2016 off with the newest from Jody
Hedlund, Undaunted Hope. This book
was an amazing story, and you can read my review here.
I have been privileged
to be a part of Jody’s launch team for this book, and I have had so much fun
getting to know more about Jody. She is such a sweet woman and truly
appreciates her readers. Today I am bringing you a little Q&A from Jody
about her newest release, and a few personal questions you might enjoy as well.
Happy Friday!
How did you come
up with the idea for Undaunted Hope?
For this third book in my Michigan lighthouse series, I
wanted to pick a location that was different than the other books. The first
two books, Love Unexpected and Hearts Made Whole, are
set in the "Mitten" of Michigan. So to add variety to the series,
I decided to place Undaunted Hope in the
Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior.
In doing my research of Michigan lighthouses, I learned
that there are lighthouses dotted all over the coast of Lake Superior since it
was such a treacherous lake to traverse and an important place for steamers due
to the rich natural resources that were available. As I studied the various
lighthouses, I finally landed upon Eagle Harbor Lighthouse in the Keweenau
Peninsula because not only was the area rich in resources, but it was rich in
history and the makings of a really great story!
The heroines in
the first two books actually live in lighthouses. In Undaunted Hope, the heroine is a school teacher. Why did you decide
for her to be a school teacher instead of a light keeper?
As I researched the area and the Keweenau Peninsula, I
came across the diary of a real school teacher, Henry Hobart, who lived and
taught in Clifton which was just a few miles down the road from Eagle Harbor.
He wrote a detailed account of his life as a school teacher to the mining
children.
I loved reading his diary and learning about all he
experienced, especially those unique things that came with being in such a
remote area of Michigan and living among the mining community.
I used many of Hobart's experiences in Undaunted Hope. For
example, he boarded with a Cornish family, the Rawlings, and Mr. Rawlings was a
prominent mine engineer and mechanic. So I had Tessa board with this particular
family. Hobart faced many hardships like bedbugs, lice, scarlet fever, the
harsh winter, and much more. So again, I had Tessa experience many of those
same things.
Eagle Harbor itself has an old one-room school house now
known as the Rathbone School House. While it's no longer in use and serves as a
museum, during my research trip I was able to visit it. I used it as the
inspiration for the school house in this book.
In your other
lighthouse books, the heroines are inspired by real women keepers. Did you use
a real light keeper as part of the inspiration for the heroine in Undaunted Hope?
Most of us gravitate toward the stories that glamorize
lighthouse life and honor the women who served in them. That's only natural.
And I hope in my other two books in this series, I give those women the laud
due to them.
However, I didn't want to neglect the women who served in
lighthouses whose experiences weren't quite as glamorous, who served even
though they disliked the duty. One woman in particular inspired this book. Her
name was Cecelia Carlson McLean who was married to keeper Alexander McLean who
served at various lighthouses around Lake Superior. When she was interviewed
later in her life, Cecelia was very forthright in stating that she hated
lighthouses, that they were lonely places, and that she'd had to sacrifice a
great deal to live in them. She claimed that if she had to do it over, she
wouldn't choose life in a lighthouse.
Of course her story made me think about the many
hardships that light keeping entailed, especially for women–the extreme
isolation, the lack of luxury, and the constant threat of danger. So out of
Cecelia's hardships, I created Tessa and tried to imagine the underlying
motivations for what might cause someone to hate lighthouses. Although I had
Tessa work through some of her fears and dislike of lighthouses, I'm sure most
women like Cecelia took their resentment of lighthouses with them to the grave.
Do you base the
villain in Undaunted Hope on a real
Michigan criminal as you do in previous books? If so, who did you pick this
time?
The villain, Percival Updegraff, is based on a real rogue
from Michigan history, Albert Molitor. Molitor lived in Rogers City and ruled
as "king" over his wilderness lumbering community. He controlled who
was hired and fired. He had a company store and held a monopoly on all food and
merchandise.
He was also a sexual predator. Since he had so much
control over the people who worked for him, if he took interest in a woman, he
would walk into the woman's house and order her into bed. If she refused or
resisted, he'd fire her husband and force the family to leave the company owned
home.
He "ruled" this way until the people in the
community finally revolted. They held secret meetings to plan to overthrow him.
And while it took a couple of attempts, they attempted to assassinate him. He
was mortally wounded and eventually died which finally freed the town of his
cruelty.
What do you hope
readers take away from Undaunted Hope?
I pray that this story will encourage readers with
renewed hope. Just like Tessa, I hope that readers will find the strength to
face their fears. We all have things that frighten us, and many times we find
it easier to run away from those things that scare us. Sometimes, however, God
calls us to walk directly into that thing we fear most. He wants us to know that
during those times, he's there walking right beside us and that he'll help us come
out on the other side stronger as a result.
As a Christian
writer, how do you keep yourself spiritually revived so that you have fresh
messages to share in your stories?
At the same time I have a fiction book that I'm reading,
I usually also have a non-fiction spiritual growth book going. For example, I
recently read the book Fervent by
Priscilla Shirer. It was an excellent book to jump-start my prayer life.
I also really love the preaching of the new pastor at our
church. I try to take really good notes every Sunday so that I can mull over
the messages at home. And I also enjoy a women's Bible study where I learn and
grow a lot.
What is your
favorite social media hangout?
Currently my favorite social media hangout is Instagram.
I'm a very visual person and love pictures. I use Instagram to post personal
pictures of my kids, family life, food, and cats.
A second favorite is Pinterest, also because of all the
pictures! I have a variety of boards there for my stories, writing tips,
reading humor, etc. And I also use it for secret boards for potential
characters and settings of future books.
Do you have any
parting words?
I love hearing from readers! Make sure you stop by one of
these places and say hello!
I hang out on Facebook here: Author Jody Hedlund
I also love to chat on Twitter: @JodyHedlund
My home base is at my website:jodyhedlund.com
Find me on Instagram: instagram.com/jodyhedlund/
Come pin with me on Pinterest: pinterest.com/jodyhedlund/pins/